My apologies for the previous post.
I saw 857D and thought 897D.

73,

Richard
K4kRW

If your radio is an FT-897D, it already has it.

From Yaesu's web site:

The new FT-897D version includes coverage of the U.S. 60-meter (5 MHz) band, along with the 0.5 ppm TCXO Unit, at no additional charge!

Here is the link to the page.
http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=102&encProdID=0372FA803B7BBADBF3076C94ACA7A8C5&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0

73,

Richard
K4KRW

I have an FT-897D.  The second 'tick' on my rig's scale corresponds to about a 1.7 to 1 SWR.  So you should be fine.  I don't understand why Yaesu doesn't give you a numerical value on the SWR meter.  

You can buy an analog meter from LDG that plugs into the bottom of the faceplate and gives you a real scale.  You can also make your own with a 1 milliamp DC panel meter.  

Here is a link to one I made here: http://www.w4bfb.org/w4bfb_archives/newsletter/Sep2007.pdf

It is best though to go ahead and get a true SWR meter.  It will read SWR all of the time.  The internal meter will show what you have selected (power out, modulation percentage ...).  So, if the antenna system goes bad while you are watching output power or modulation on transmit, you may not realize it.

73,

K4KRW

double-sideband

73,

K4KRW

With the solar activity cycle still pretty low, 10 is going to dead quite a bit.  Of course, when it is active, it is a lot of fun.  

You do have privileges in other bands (15, 40, 80).  This would be in the CW portions of those bands.  Have you thought about learning Morse code?  40 meters is a great band to get started with.  At your age, you could probably pick it up pretty quickly.

If you are interested, do a little homework before trying to learn.  There is a lot of great information on the internet about learning Morse code.  Don't do things like memorizing dashes and dots from a chart.  Don't do things like learning trick phrases like 'dog did it' (dah dit dit) for the letter D.  In the end, tricks like these this only slow you down.  Learn it by sound.

The Fists organization would be a good site to look up.  Promoting CW is their main reason for existence.  

CW is my favorite mode.  There are many nice folks in those portions of the bands.  It is also a great low power mode.  100 watts goes a long way.  

Once you get your general license, the digital modes like PSK31 give you a lot of miles per watt.  They are a lot of fun too.

Whatever you decide to do, have fun.  With amateur radio, you can learn something new almost every day.

73,

Richard
K4KRW

Great!

I'm glad you got it running again.  Are you by chance having any antenna problems?  I once had my 897 do something like what your 857 did.  It was due to RF coming back to the radio due to a really bad antenna mismatch.

73,

Richard
K4KRW

One more thing.  If you have not removed power from the main unit.  I would try that. Once you re-apply power, see if it will power on.

73

Richard
K4KRW

Have you tried a power on reset?  You will lose menu and memory settings.  But, considering your situation it would be worth a try.

I have an FT-897D.  Here is what the manual says about resets.  I assume the 857 will work the same as they are really the same radio.

Hold down the [HOME] button and press the power on button.  That resets everything.

There are two additional resets.  But, the [HOME] reset covers everything.

Holding down [V/M]  and pressing the power on button resets memories plus just a few menu settings.

Holding down [F] and pressing the power on button resets all menu settings except for a few.

Hope you get it working.

73,

Richard
K4KRW

Richard,

I think if you find a good set of plans for an antenna and follow them carefully, you won't really need the antenna tuner.  All of the VHF antenna's I have built (dipoles, J-Poles, H Double Bays, 1/4 wave ground planes) have been pretty close to being in tune and just required minor adjustment.  

Now, on HF, where many use multiband antennas, you may very well find you need a tuner.  I built an 80 meter Carolina Windom from scratch.  I am able to use it on all HF bands except 160 meters with a tuner.  Without the tuner, my band choices would be much more limited.

That antenna analyzer you are looking at looks very interesting.  It should be very educational.  

I would go ahead and get a decent cross needle SWR meter too.  That analyzer is not monitoring the output of your radio.  You test and tune with the analyzer.  Then once you are happy, you connect the antenna to your rig.  

So, if something goes wrong with your antenna, the analyzer wont tell you because it is not hooked up.  So, you may not find out you have a problem until something bad happens to your radio.  

Leaving an SWR meter in line will give you a chance of noticing antenna problems before they hurt the radio.  While the radio does have a built in SWR meter, the meter also serves other purposes (output power, modulation, ...).  So if you are watching modulation for example, you won't see SWR problems.

Of course, the radio will reduce power when it experiences a high SWR.  Hopefully that will protect the finals.  

Of course, if you have any doubts about your antenna, use your analyzer or test with an SWR meter with your radio at reduced output power (maybe 10 watts).  Then, once you are confident that the antenna is relatively in tune, you can try higher wattages.

Have fun!

73,

Richard
K4KRW

Richard,

Re:
<<<
Hmm... I was thinking that having the tuner would assist him with tuning. The whole point is to enable him to build and tune antennas, and thought that tuners would help him in that process.
>>>

The tuner doesn't really tune the antenna.  It basically makes the radio think it has a proper load.  So, beyond the tuner, you still have a 50 Ohm cable attached to a still mismatched and probably not ideally resonant antenna.  The signal loss in the coax will be high (of course, depending somewhat on the cable type).  

This is why you see many hams put an automatic antenna tuner in a weather sealed box at the antenna instead of in the shack.  This minimizes loss in the coax due to high a SWR.  Because, from the tuner to the radio there is a perfect match.

Since you are dealing with only one band (assuming we are talking only about 6 meters), tune the antenna itself to be resonant in the band.  You usually only need an SWR meter that will work on 6 meters to do that.  Once it is tuned, loss on the coax will be minimized.  Plus you will have an antenna that will perform its best as it is resonant on the desired band.  Plus, you won't need an antenna tuner.

To me, antenna tuners are for those situations where for some reason you just cannot get a properly tuned antenna (like multiband antennas that are matched better on some bands than others).  If you can tune the antenna, you don't need the tuner.

Of course, when it comes to tuning antennas, an antenna analyzer is better than an SWR meter in that it gives you resonant frequency and impedance.  So you know if you have an antenna length problem (indicated usually by resonance above or below your band) or some other problem.  

73,

Richard
K4KRW

A simple and fun project for an FT-857 or FT-897

You may have seen that you can buy an analog meter that plugs into your FT-897.  It won't replace the need for an external SWR meter.  But, it sure makes the rig's meter circuitry usable.

You can also make your own meter.  I made one for myself.  I wrote it up here (look on page 10).  

http://www.w4bfb.org/w4bfb_archives/newsletter/Sep2007.pdf

Others have done this too.  So, you should be able to find plenty of info on the subject.

I ended up putting my meter in a nice wooden cigar box.  On page 2 of the following:

http://www.w4bfb.org/w4bfb_archives/newsletter/Nov2007.pdf

Have fun!

73,

Richard

Regarding the 6 meter antenna tuner.

You may find that you want a separate antenna for 6 meters.  

First of all:  The antennas are small enough that they are pretty easy to build and handle.  

Then: The quality of the coax you use becomes much more important at that frequency. You will have quite a bit of loss if have a long run out to your all band HF antenna (especially at a high SWR).  Run a short run of higher quality coax to a separate 6 meter antenna closer by. The better coax is a bit more expensive too.  So, shorter is better in that regard too.

Finally:  You will probably find that an antenna that works well for the HF bands just doesn't work that well for 6 meters.  I have a Carolina Windom.  I found it just doesn't work well at all at those frequencies.  

So, I built an H Double Bay to play with.  It works much much better.  There are other great designs that would be easy (and fun) to build.

I guess that my point is the following:
If you build a separate antenna for 6 meters, you can tune the antenna itself.  You will minimize loss in your coax.  And, you may find that you don't need the tuner for 6 meters at all.

Of course, one of the better toys to get if you want to play with antennas is the MFJ antenna analyzer.  Antenna modeling software would be another great toy to play with.  The ARRL Antenna handbook is very handy.

The tuners with the built in SWR meters (like the 949E) are pretty handy.  Maybe the money going into the 6 meter tuner could instead go into the HF tuner.  

When it comes to SWR meters, the crossed needle arrangement is great.  Switching between forward and reflected power and calibrating gets old pretty fast.

73,

Richard
K4KRW

Regarding the 857.  Some things to think about.

I almost bought an HF (no 6 meters) radio for my first radio.  I wasn't interested in anything above 10 meters.  My Elmer pointed me towards the FT-897D due to it being all modes on 6m, 2m and 70cm.  He said I'd probably find I enjoyed playing on those bands as well.  I must say that I have had quite a bit of fun with the radio on VHF and UHF (SSB).  6 meters is a fun band.  2 meter SSB can be a lot of fun too (especially when there is a contest going on).

The 897 and the 857 are the same radio inside.

I personally have found the menus on the 897 to be no problem.  

Also, remember that you have the CAT capabilities.  So, you can use your home computer along with software to control the radio if you have a CAT cable.  Get a sound card interface with CAT capabilities.  PSK31 and the other digital modes are a lot of fun.

Also, there are things you can do to minimize your need to dig down into the menu system.

For example:
I configured my memories to hold all of the band edges in order by mode.  So, pos. 1 say would have the bottom edge of 80 meters CW with everything configured for CW.  2 would have the top edge of 80 for CW.  3 would have the bottom edge of 40 meters CW and so on.   Then the next series of memories I have programmed for digital mode frequencies and settings.  The next set is for SSB band edges and settings (correct mode (USB or LSB) per band ...).  Make sure all settings are the way you want them for that band before storing that band edge in memory.  So, for example, the receive preamp is disabled on 40 meters and lower on my rig (see IPO in the manual).  

When I switch from band to band and mode to mode using the memories, I get all of the settings just as I want them for each band.  So, I don't need to dig through the menus.  Just go up or down through your memories until you get to the mode and band edge close to where you want to be.  Then turn the VFO to get to your desired frequency.  

You still will find yourself playing with DSP settings (notice the DSP button to take you immediately to and from the DSP multi-function keys).  

Plus, you can program the three function keys on multi-function row Q for the three things that most often drive you down into the menu system.  

Leave the multi-function buttons on Q (your favorite menu settings to touch).  Hit DSP when you want to adjust DSP settings.  Hit DSP again to go back to row Q.

So, I think if you have things set up correctly, both the 857 and the 897 are pretty friendly.  Do you know someone who has one who will let you play for an hour or two or even better, a day or two?  I think a little time with the radio would allow you to see whether it works for you or not.

If you have a set dollar amount you are willing to put into radios and you have a choice between more knobs and more bands, I have found that I like more bands.  Plus, I do think that both of these radios are thought out pretty well.

Whatever you decide to get, I hope you and your son enjoy it very much.

73,

Richard
K4KRW

Funny story.  (I could probably write a book on my Radio Shack experiences).

I don’t know what it is like now.  But, I worked for Radio Shack when I was young (early to mid 80s).  Unless you were in a large mall store or a computer center where you could make some commission, the pay was not very good.  At that time the central office was always eating into the stores’ profit margins and costing the managers money.  They were notorious for drop shipping items you did not ask for.  They also never sent you enough of the hot selling items that you asked for.  At the time cordless phones were very hot and at times they were just impossible to get.

Every year around Christmas, Radio Shack would sell these junk toy hats with sirens and lights on them.  We never wanted them.  But, the central office would always drop ship cases of them.  We never sold them all and every spring they would sit on a high shelf in the back of the store being depreciated and eating into our profit margin.

One year our manager decided to just place them out in front of the store on Christmas Eve in hopes that someone would just take them.  We weren’t going to make any money on them anyway.  We came back to the store the day after Christmas and there were more hats out front than we had left.  

I guess hats that people had actually bought didn’t work Christmas morning.  When the people came to bring them back and saw the pile of boxes in front of the store they figured the rest were ones that others had returned.  They just added theirs to the pile.
 
We got a good laugh out of that.

73,

Richard (K4KRW)

Patrick,

That bhi Radio-Mate keypad looks interesting.  I hadn't run across that one.  

73,

Richard